Children and young people with disability, 2022: key findings in plain language

This fact sheet includes data about children and young people with disability in Australia who are under 25 years old. The data is from the 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC). The Australian Bureau of Statistics carried out the survey.

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The SDAC includes children and young people living in private homes in Australia. 

In 2022, we found that of children and young people: 

• 946,300 (12.1%) had disability. This is up from 8.3% in 2018
• 520,000 (11%) who were under 15 years old had disability. This is up from 7.7% in 2018
• 431,800 (13.9%) who were 15 to 24 years old had disability. This is up from 9.4% in 2018
• the rate of disability was higher for males (13.7%) than females (10.5%)
• 6% had a profound or severe disability. This is up from 4.1% in 2018
• 6.6% had a disability that affects learning and understanding. This is up from 4.2% in 2018
• 37.5% who were under 15 years old with disability had a parent with disability.

How we defined disability

In the survey, a disability is any condition that:

• limits, restricts or affects everyday activities

             and

• lasts, or is likely to last, for at least 6 months.

People with profound disability are people who have the greatest need for help. This means they can’t do at least one core activity, or always need help with at least one core activity. Core activities include moving around, self-care and communication. 

People with severe disability sometimes need help with at least one core activity.

We found that of children and young people with disability:

• over two-thirds (67.8%) needed some support with everyday activities
• 70.3% who were 15 to 24 years old had seen family and friends in the past 3 months who were not living in the same household. They had seen them at least once a week in that time.

We found that of children and young people with disability:

• 58.9% who were 5 to 20 years old and going to school received some form of additional support at school. For example, help from a disability support person or extra lessons
• 46.6% who were 15 to 24 years old had paying jobs. This is up from 39.6% in 2018.